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Environmental impact of fracking in the United States has been an issue of public concern, and includes the contamination of ground and surface water, methane emissions, [1] air pollution, migration of gases and fracking chemicals and radionuclides to the surface, the potential mishandling of solid waste, drill cuttings, increased seismicity and associated effects on human and ecosystem health.
While analysis suggested that the increase is "almost certainly man-made", the USGS noted: "USGS's studies suggest that the actual hydraulic fracturing process is only very rarely the direct cause of felt earthquakes." The increased earthquakes were said to be most likely caused by increased injection of gas-well wastewater into disposal wells ...
Studies done by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found that “Fracking also uses crystalline silica, which is a type of sand that’s used to keep the fractures open.” [159] Exposure to this, along with dust and other air pollutants produced from fracking, can cause respiratory problems.
Moderately damaging earthquakes strike between New York and Wilmington, Delaware, about twice a century, the USGS said, and smaller earthquakes are felt in the region roughly every two to three years.
Doug Menuez/Getty Images The energy industry in the U.S. has surged in the past decade thanks to advances in technology that have allowed companies to extract vast quantities of oil and natural ...
But far more disconcerting is when major tremors in places unaccustomed to earthquakes can be. Feeling the earth move under one's feet can be unsettling, even in places like California, where it's ...
Hydraulic fracturing [a] is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of formations in bedrock by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure injection of "fracking fluid" (primarily water, containing sand or other proppants suspended with the aid of thickening agents) into a wellbore to create cracks in the deep rock formations through which natural gas, petroleum ...
Results of ongoing multi-year research on induced earthquakes by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) published in 2015 suggested that most of the significant earthquakes in Oklahoma, such as the 1952 magnitude 5.7 El Reno earthquake may have been induced by deep injection of waste water by the oil industry. "Earthquake rates have ...